We live in a van.

Redlands, California

We did it. We made it to our first destination and spent the week actually living out of a van. Destination No. 1 was Redlands, California, a gorgeous city just inland from Los Angeles. We left Nevada late in the afternoon on Saturday, April 8th. To be honest, we were both amazed that we had actually pulled it off. It took us months to prepare and we ended up reluctantly pushing our plans back a couple times. We finally made the big jump though and drove four hours in our little van house to our first stop on the map.

Redlands.

If you’ve never been to this part of California, I highly recommend you go. It has the same appeal as the San Diego area without the traffic. Plus, the streets in Downtown Redlands are lined with perfectly groomed orange trees and the sweetest little Victorian homes. It’s painfully cute.

We didn’t do too many touristy activities while we were there because our stay consisted of visiting with Eli’s family for the most part. We spent about six days deep in amazing conversations with amazing people. For me personally, it was a great experience to be able to sit and listen to such interesting and intelligent people. Thanks to them, we gained the entire history of the city, which can be almost entirely attributed to rich New Englanders looking to escape to the pleasantly beachy climate of California.

Other than that, our free time has been spent lounging in our van house, side doors opened wide to let in that perfect 70 degree California breeze. We spent a lot time walking around the area and enjoying the scenery. Being that it is April, there were flowers blooming everywhere you looked. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. I recall one moment in particular where we were exploring and all that I could smell the entire time was flowers. It was basically a fairytale and I can’t wait to go back already. Maybe that will be for round two of the Big Ol’ Road Trip.

We are continuing to take things day by day and loving every minute. Hopefully we will stay consistent with the blog but for right now, everything is fine.